A Warrior's Spirit
by AmberAngelle
Summary: Long ago, a young girl fell in love with a series of books about clan cats. Now years have have past and her love has turned to ash. However, a warrior's spirit cannot simply die as Autumn learns when she wakes up in the forest… as a cat! Join her as she finds her place amongst a Thunderclan of long ago and rediscovers her love for the world of Warriors.


**Author's Note: Nothing in this fic will directly relate to Dawn of the Clans (As I have not read these so any lore introduced there we will act as though it does not exist.) The time this takes place is between the clans' creation and Bluestar's time. (Though closer to the latter than the former.) So canon cats from either time period will not appear or be set up to appear. For example, Bluestar's mother would not be a character born into the clan.**

 **So the point is: If anything here contradicts some bit of lore from anywhere in the series; I'm sorry.**

 **EDIT 10/22/16: Clan names fixed. Special thanks to Seeker3 for pointing out my mistake!**

"Sigh…"

This was the sound that escaped the 18 year-olds lips. Her mid-length auburn hair brushed past her shoulder as she picked up yet another book.

"Warriors: Rising Storm… There you go." She mumbled as she packed the book away into the large box with the rest of its series. Moving, Autumn found, was hard not because the amount of stuff you have, but because of what all that stuff means to you. In this case, some of that stuff consisted of the Warrior Cat books. She owned four of the mains series, 5 Super Editions, and three of the guide books. 32 books about cats in total…

"Sigh…" She breathed again. Digging through old stuff meant digging up old memories. And her memories of the four clans of wild cats were some of the oldest. In 5th grade Autumn met a girl who would become one of her best friends. And this girl introduced her to Warriors: A fantastical place where cats lived and hunted together, defending their clan even at the cost of their own lives. For Autumn, it was the most amazing feeling: reading the struggles and triumphs of these cats she grew to love. However… as the years past, that feeling changed. The newer books just did not feel the same. All the horrors and battles the cats endured just grated on her heart until finally… she quit. No more. No more battles, no more forbidden romances, no more death… just no more. She was done. Now they just served as dark reminders of a past she could never recapture.

Autumn packed away the rest of the boxes, feeling tired and gloomy. Memories of childhood were quite a somber thing, she found. As she put the last box aside, a yawn escaped her. It was late, and the exhausted young woman knew the best course of action would be sleep. She trudged up the stairs and collapsed on her bed, the bitter thoughts of clan cats running around in her mind as she slowly drifted away… 

_The moon shone high above the forest leaves as dark, slithering shapes began to form on the outskirts of a quiet riverbank, the only sounds the rustling of the leaves and the churning of the river waters. Then, the clearing erupted into a cacophony of yowls, screeches, and hisses. The dark shapes charged onto each side the bank, the figures forming two lines. Cats, dozens of them, called and jeered at another from across the river. From one side of the bank, nearest to a forest treeline emerged a brown she-cat, her head held high. Opposite her on the other side across the river stood another cat, a pale white tom with a steady glare. The she-cat moved forward, flinging herself up one of the many stones that made up the bank, flicking her tail for silence from those gathered behind her._

" _Streamstar! What is the meaning of this invasion?!" The brown cat yowled, fur bristling in fury. The small white tom simply stared a her for a moment before bounding onto a rock of his own, giving his own signal for silence._

" _It was time, Ivystar. For too long ThunderClan has held what has rightly belonged to RiverClan. I intend to take it back." The tom, Streamstar, declared._

" _I'm afraid I must disagree. The Sunningrocks belong to ThunderClan and shall always belong to ThunderClan. It was StarClan's gift to us when they changed the river's flow. And so we shall defend the land granted to us." The brown she-cat Ivystar refuted firmly._

" _Then you leave us with no choice. RiverClan, attack!" Streamstar yowled, his tail lashing as the cats behind him surged forward at his command._

" _ThunderClan, attack!" Ivystar yowled in turn as she leaped off the rock and into the fry as her cats rushed to join her. At once, the masses of cats clashed, each hissing and clawing at one another in rage and fury. Ivystar herself had run straight towards the river bank, but did not cross._

" _Coward!" She yowled across to Streamstar, the tom not having left his position. He merely looked at her for a moment._

" _Am I truly the coward?" he questioned tauntingly. She bristled in indignation. She would not cross the water and he knew it. She stood there a moment more, the decision before her tearing at her. Just then however, a shrill shriek of pain broke apart her thoughts. She turned abruptly, her eyes catching sight of the small, quivering body of Aspenpaw, the young apprentice having been cornered by a large RiverClan warrior. Ivystar yowled in fury, leaping on the RiverClan tom and sinking her claws in. The tom tried to shake her off, thrashing about._

" _Aspenpaw! Go!" She commanded, and she watched as the young tom fled. Now that she was alone with the warrior, she leapt off his back and landed on the rocky soil. Now faced squarely with her opponent, she hissed as she threw herself on him scratching and biting. He did not take it lying down however, pushing back with equal force. He hit her with a well placed blow with his paw that knocked her off and left her winded. She glare at him as she tried to catch her breath._

" _Oh, is the great ThunderClan leader done, already?" He jeered, closing in for another attack. She recognized him as Rushjaw, a young warrior who had received his name just before the last Gathering. She backed away, still trying to regain her breath. She was not a young cat anymore after all. Suddenly, a loud call rang out._

" _RiverClan, Retreat!" She heard Streamstar yowl. The tom's eyes widened in shock, then he growled a curse._

" _No, but you are." She rebutted with a hint of satisfaction. The tom then glared at her once more before turning away to join his clanmates._

 _As the area cleared she saw Streamstar on the edge of the river, his clan swimming away behind him. He looked torn up, with blood down his side and on his muzzle. Clearly some cat got to him, she realized with relish. She approached the RiverClan leader, proudly holding her head high. His eyes narrowed as he spotted her._

" _You may have won for now, Ivystar." He spat."But know we will return to claim what is ours." With that, he stalked away, jumping into the river and swimming across to his own land._

 _With a breath, Ivystar looked back at her clanmates, pride shining in her eyes._

" _Let's go home." She declared, causing cheers to rise up from her battered clanmates. They may be bruised but they will never be beaten. Because they are ThunderClan, and they will live on forever._


End file.
